Among the Rubble
by ObsydianDreamer
Summary: As Ironhide walks through the wreckage of a battle-destroyed Iacon, he finds an unlikely survivor. One-shot, Sparkling Bumblebee.


AN: A short one-shot ficlet of mine. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. I wish I did, but I don't.

**Among the Rubble**

By ObsydianDreamer

* * *

Silently, Ironhide moved through the wreckage, filled with a sense of disbelief and loss.

He was with a small unit of high-ranking Autobot officers, led by none other than Sentinel Prime himself. They were some of the first to arrive after they received the urgent SOS from the Autobot troops within Iacon. He was in Kalis when they got the message, and he knew it must have been bad, but what he found when they arrived at ground zero was much worse than what he had imagined.

More than half the city had been utterly destroyed, reduced to smouldering rubble. Whether the inhabitants were high caste or low caste it made no difference; there had been no mercy for anyone.

It was a battle – no, _slaughter_ – that would forever live in infamy in Cybertronian history.

Reports said that the attack had been led by Starscream, Megatron's new Second-in-Command. Ironhide knew that Starscream was cunning and eager to move up the Decepticon ranks, but he never thought the seeker would have been capable of something like this.

Solemnly, the unit continued their trek through the ruins of the capital. They'd been sent there to deal with any remaining Decepticons, but it was clear that they'd been gone for a while; their mission had been accomplished. Nevertheless, Sentinel commanded them to continue.

After a few breems, the reached the outskirts of the city, where the low-caste slums had once been. Just like the rest of the city, little remained of the place; everything had been razed to the ground.

Ironhide was pulled from his thoughts as he heard a quiet chirping noise coming from somewhere nearby. Stopping, he alerted the others.

"Quiet!" he commanded. "I think I hear something."

The group fell silent instantly. The quiet noise continued, and Ironhide traced it to underneath a pile of debris. Lifting up the collapsed roof of what had once been a small family home, he found the source of the sound.

It was a small sparkling, clearly less than a vorn old. It was huddled in the arms of its dead caretaker, covered in dust but otherwise completely uninjured. Ironhide couldn't help but smile. The sparkling was most likely the only survivor in the entire area; Primus himself must have been watching over the little one.

"What is it?" one of the other Autobots called out.

"A sparkling," Ironhide replied. Crouching down, he picked it up; the sparkling chirped happily in response.

Before the war, he and Chromia had spoken about starting a family of their own. But then the fighting broke out, and all such plans had to be put on hold. Still amazed at finding the sparkling alive, he wondered if perhaps this had happened for a reason.

Holding the sparkling carefully, he began wiping away the dust that coated its frame. It was painted in yellow, with two distinct black stripes that marked it as a low caste. By that point, the other soldiers had begun to crowd around, trying to get a look.

"Leave it behind," Sentinel Prime ordered, causing everyone to turn to him.

Ironhide couldn't believe what he'd heard. "What do you mean, 'leave it behind'?

"It's a low caste," Sentinel Prime explained. "It'll never amount to anything important."

Perhaps in the old system, that may have been true. Back then, a Cybertronian never advanced out of their assigned caste. But the war had changed everything; the caste system barely existed anymore, and it was a sparkling, for Primus' sake.

"For all we know, this sparkling could one day stop Megatron himself." Ironhide argued, but the Prime refused to relent.

"I gave you an order."

He refused to even think of leaving the sparkling behind. Standing defiantly, Ironhide spoke calmly but strongly. "Then I resign from your command."

Without another word, he turned away from the group and began the journey back to the army camp, the sparkling in his arms. After a little while, the sparkling went quiet, slipping into a light recharge.

Smiling, Ironhide began to think about what he'd do next.

He'd keep fighting for the Autobot cause, of course. There wasn't any doubt about that. Thinking back, he remembered hearing other soldiers mention Sentinel's son, Optimus. They had all said the same things; that the mech was strong, and a great strategist, but also compassionate and fair.

Ironhide had to admit that Optimus sounded a lot more equal than his creator. Perhaps, when he returned to Kalis, he could find a place in one of his units.

Silently, to avoid waking the sparkling, Ironhide moved through the wreckage, now filled with a sense of hope.


End file.
